23
by NikChik-11
Summary: It's Lightning's birthday, and the citizens of Radiator Springs wants to give him a party he'll remember, even if he doesn't want it. But when a sudden death occures, can Lightning pull himself together, or will he stay a depressed, nervous wreck?


**Disclaimer: I do not own Cars.**

**Warning: Really, Really, REALLY Sad story here!!!!**

**A/N: I sort of got the idea for this story from an episode of Zoey 101 I saw. It was really sad, but I sort of put a Cars twist on it.

* * *

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**23 **

"Hey Stickers. Watcha doin?" Sally asked, coming into the room to find Lightning sitting at the computer.

She went over and put her arms around his shoulders. He looked up at her, and replied, "I was just replying an email to my mom. She wanted to wish me a happy birthday tomorrow…"

This last statement made Sally stop dead in her tracks.

"Birthday?" She asked with a gulp.

"Uh, yea. You know, you celebrate it every year, you get older, and you get a party and presents and stuff." He said sarcastically.

"Yes, I know what a birthday is, I just didn't know that yours was tomorrow." She said.

"Yea, well, I didn't actually tell anyone." Lightning admitted.

"Why not?" Sally asked curiously.

"I didn't want to have a party or any of that stuff… I'm just not into surprises." He said.

"Oh, you're not, are you?" She said thoughtfully.

"Sally, you better not…" Lightning warned.

"Ok, ok, I get it." She said. She started to run her hand through Lightning's hair, when she noticed the worried look on his face.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Oh, it's nothing. I'm just worried about my mom. She said that she didn't feel too well. She thinks she might have some sort of virus…"

"You're so thoughtful…" Sally said quietly, making Lightning blush slightly.

* * *

Sally found Mater outside at his junkyard, fooling with some piles of junk.

"Hey Mater! I need to ask you a favor!" Sally called out.

"Sure Miss Sally! What is it?" Mater replied.

"I need you to take Lightning out tomorrow night." She said, getting straight to the point.

"Ok, I wuz gonna ask him to go cow tippin' with me tomorrow anyways."

"Thanks Mater." Sally said, grateful that he didn't ask why she wanted him to take him out. She knew that you couldn't exactly trust Mater with a secret. He had a big heart, but he also had a big mouth…

She made her way back to the Cozy Cone, and started to make plans for Lightning's surprise party, which he didn't want to have in the first place. She could just imagine the look on his face when everyone popped up out of nowhere, screaming "Surprise!"

She decided to make a chocolate cake, with a red "95" on it, and one candle for every year of Lightning's life. How many candles was that? She realized she didn't even know how old he was! She quickly got up, and walked over to Lightning's cone.

She knocked, and he opened up the door. He looked as if he had been asleep.

"Hey Sal." He said, yawning.

"Hey. Do you mind if I come in?" Sally asked.

"Sure. What brings you over here?" He asked, stepping aside to let her in.

"Can't a girl just come over to her boyfriend's apartment?" She asked. "Without that sounding nasty." She quickly added, not wanting to give him the wrong idea.

He laughed. "Sal, you got a sick mind."

"Sorry." She said, sitting down on the couch. He came and sat down beside her, and gently kissed her on the cheek.

"So Stickers… When did you say your birthday was?" She asked.

"Tomorrow." He replied.

"Wow… that early? That doesn't give me much time to get you a present."

"Sal, I don't want a present. I already have everything I want." He replied.

They sat there in silence for awhile. Sally cuddled against Lightning.

"So… How old are you going to be?" Sally asked, after awhile.

Lightning sighed. "23."

"23?! But, that means that I'm—" Sally started, smirking a little.

"Yea, yea… You're older than me. But only by a year and a half!" Lightning exclaimed, laughing.

Sally laughed, too. "Wow, I never would have guessed…"

* * *

"Hey guys, are we all set?" Sally asked, looking around at all the decorations.

Everyone was at Flo's getting prepared for Lightning's surprise party. Sally went to the kitchen to see how the cake was coming along.

"Hey Flo. How's things back here?" She asked.

"Fine, fine." Flo replied, spreading some icing over the cake.

"Hey Flo, what did you get Lightning?" Sally asked, an anxious expression on her face.

"I got him a month's supply worth of free breakfast." Flo said with a little laugh, "What did you get him, sweetheart?"

"I got his mom to come up here… He hasn't seen her in over a year." Sally said, smiling.

"Awww, well that was sweet." Flo said, smiling sweetly at Sally.

"Thanks F—" Sally started, but was abruptly cut off by Doc.

"Hey you guys! Here they come!" Doc said, looking outside the window.

Sally went and looked out the window, and sure enough, she could see Lightning and Mater slowly walking towards them.

"Ok everyone! Hide!" She whispered, ducking behind a window curtain.

She heard a door open, and gave everybody the signal.

"SURPRISE!!!!!!!" Everyone shouted, and boy, did Lightning get surprised, too. He was so surprised, he jumped, tripped backwards over a chair, and fell flat on his backside.

Everyone laughed. Lightning was blushing more than Sally had ever seen him blush before.

"Well dang, buddy! Your face is redder than I was on summer vacation last year!" Mater exclaimed, laughing.

Lightning just looked around, apparently embarrassed. "What's—what's all this?" He asked.

"Now, you know I couldn't go without throwing you a party." Sally said, going up and hugging him.

He just stared at her, stunned. "But, I told you I didn't want one…" He said, drifting off.

"You know deep inside that you can't resist a party." She said, poking him playfully in the ribs.

He smiled. "You know me too well…" He said laughing.

He turned to everyone crowded around him, and shouted, "Let's party!"

This sent a ripple of laughter through the crowd. Some music started, and everyone started to dance.

Sally danced for what seemed like hours with Lightning. She had never had so much fun before.

"Hey, I'll be right back…" She said, breaking away from Lightning, and walking over to Flo.

"Hey, honey. Having fun?" Flo asked.

"Yea, I'm having lots of fun." Sally replied.

"How's Lightning's mom doing?" Flo asked.

Sally stood there for a second, trying to remember if she'd even seen Lightning's mom yet.

"I don't think she's gotten here yet…" Sally said thoughtfully.

"Oh, ok. Well, when she gets here, tell me. I want to meet her." Flo said, walking off.

Sally turned around, and walked back to where she had left Lightning. She got there, but she couldn't find him. She looked all around her, but didn't see him. She spotted Mater, talking to Sheriff about something, and quickly walked over to him.

"Hey Mater… Have you seen Lightning?" She asked hurriedly.

"Nope, I saw him talkin' ta Doc earlier, though…" Mater replied.

"Thanks." Sally said, making her way to where Doc was standing alone.

"Doc?" She said, making him look up at her. "Have you seen Lightning?"

He sadly looked at her, then replied, "Yes, I have. He left."

"Left?" Sally repeated. She frowned. "Did he leave just because he didn't want a party?"

"No, Sally, his—"

"He did, didn't he? Ooooo, I'm going to get him." She said angrily. She looked up at Doc. "Doc, you should have stopped him! You know he should be celebrating his birth—"

"Lightning's mother died." Doc said, interrupting her.

Sally just looked at Doc in disbelief. "Oh my gosh! But I just talked to her yesterday, what happened?" Sally said, shocked.

"You know how Lightning told us that she'd had a virus?" Doc asked. Sally slowly nodded, as Doc continued. "Well, it turned out that it wasn't a virus… Her appendix ruptured as she was driving here. The pain caused her to run off road, and into a tree."

Doc sighed. "She probably would have survived the crash, but they think that she died because of her appendix."

Sally just stared at him, not believing what she was hearing.

"Where's Lightning? Is he ok?" She asked worriedly.

"He told me he just wanted to be alone." Doc replied.

Sally immediately knew where Lightning was. He went to the only place where he could be alone. Wheel Well. She ran, jumped in her car, and took off.

* * *

As Sally drove up the winding roads, a light drizzle started to fall from the sky. As the rain got harder, she flipped on her windshield wipers. A fork of lightning lit up the sky, startling her. She flinched when she heard the booming thunder.

Another few lightning bolts lit up the sky, illuminating the dark clouds. Every streak of light reminded her of her poor, distressed boyfriend. This thought made her drive a little faster. She could barely see because of the rain. Then, she saw it. The outline of a very familiar red car…

She parked her car, and got out. As soon as she stepped out of the front seat, she got soaked. She went up to one side of Lightning's car, but there was no one in it. She slowly walked around to the other side, starting to get a little frightened. She got around to the other side, and stopped.

Lightning was sitting on the ground, his back against the car's tire, soaked from the rain. Sally got a little closer, and saw that he was shaking. He slowly looked up at her with a tear-stained face, and quickly looked back down to the ground. She went up, and sat down beside him on the cold, wet ground. He let out a sob, and slowly shook his head.

Sally put her arm around him, and kept it there. He just sat there, crying, before he finally buried his face into Sally's shoulder. Sally had never seen Lightning cry before, it sort of made her want to cry…

She felt a few tears fall down her face, and quickly wiped them away. She had to stay strong for Lightning. She knew what it was like to lose someone, considering that she lost her dad when she was 11. She soothingly began to stroke Lightning's wet hair. She rubbed her hand against his back, and spoke comforting words to him, remembering the day of her father's funeral. She felt his muscles relax, and his breath return to normal as he calmed down.

"Come on… Let's get you home." Sally said quietly.

Lightning sniffled in reply. She helped him up, and walked back to her car, her arm still around his shoulder…

* * *

The ride home was quiet. Sally glanced over at Lightning. He was staring blankly out the window. She sighed, then returned her gaze back to the road.

When they got back to the motel, Lightning got out of the car, not speaking, and silently walked to his room.

* * *

It was the day of the funeral, and Lightning wasn't talking to anyone. No one had heard him speak since the party. He just stood there, sadly watching everyone go up to the casket, and then walk away.

Sally went up to him, and put her hand on his shoulder. "Don't you want to go say a few last words?"

Lightning just looked at her with his sad, blue eyes. He shook his head "No", and looked over at the casket.

"You won't get another chance to. You might regret it if you don't…" Sally said comfortingly.

Lightning sighed, and shrugged his shoulders. Sally took his hand, and started towards the casket.

They walked up to it, and looked down at her. Somehow, they had managed to get her all cleaned up from the wreck, good enough to have an open-casket.

She was pale, considering that she was—well, you know—and had the same color hair as Lightning, and the same shape of face.

Sally glanced up at Lightning, and saw that he was shaking uncontrollably.

"Stickers? Are you ok?" She asked, going to put her arm around him.

He pushed her away, clamped his hand over his mouth, ran to some nearby bushes, and threw up vigorously into them.

"Stickers!" Sally exclaimed, going up cautiously to him, and putting her hand on his back.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and sat on the ground, silently crying.

"I-I can't t-take this." He whispered, so quietly, Sally almost didn't hear him.

"Come on." Sally said, taking his hand, and leading him to her car.

She got in on the driver's side, and he got in on the passenger's side. They sat there in silence for awhile, 'What Hurts the Most' playing softly on the radio.

"This is all my fault." She said, breaking the silence. Lightning looked up at her, but remained quiet. "I mean, if I hadn't have thrown the party in the first place, none of this would've happened." Sally continued, a few tears falling down her cheeks. She wiped away the tears, only to have more fall in their place.

"I'm not blaming you." Lightning said quietly.

"But, it's my fault!" Sally exclaimed.

Lightning looked softly at her, even if the sadness in his eyes was still there. "It's not your fault. It was her appendix, not her driving…"

Sally forgot about that. She smiled, and took Lightning's hand. He gave her a little half-smile, and sadly looked at the floorboard.

Sally gazed at him for a moment, before wiping away the tears that had started to fall from his eyes.

"You really miss her, don't you?" She asked, squeezing his hand reassuringly.

He nodded his head, and sniffled. "I-I just can't believe s-she's—gone." He choked out.

Sally rubbed his hand comfortingly, and nodded.

Lightning stared sadly out the window, and let his tears fall. "I-I didn't get to say goodbye."

Sally didn't really know what to say… She could only imagine how bad Lightning felt right now…

They just sat there in a reassuring silence, listening to the words of the song.

_I can take the rain on the roof of this empty house  
That don't bother me  
I can take a few tears now and then and just let them out  
I'm not afraid to cry every once in a while  
Even though going on with you gone still upsets me  
There are days every now and again I pretend I'm ok  
But that's not what gets me _

What hurts the most  
Was being so close  
And having so much to say  
And watching you walk away  
And never knowing  
What could have been  
And not seeing that loving you  
Is what I was tryin' to do

It's hard to deal with the pain of losing you everywhere I go  
But I'm doin' It  
It's hard to force that smile when I see our old friends and I'm alone  
Still Harder  
Getting up, getting dressed, livin' with this regret  
But I know if I could do it over  
I would trade give away all the words that I saved in my heart  
That I left unspoken

What hurts the most  
Is being so close  
And having so much to say  
And watching you walk away  
And never knowing  
What could have been  
And not seeing that loving you  
Is what I was trying to do

What hurts the most  
Is being so close  
And having so much to say  
And watching you walk away  
And never knowing  
What could have been  
And not seeing that loving you  
Is what I was trying to do

Not seeing that loving you  
That's what I was trying to do

End

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**Awww Wasn't that the saddest? I almost cried writing it. :'( Please Review! I HAD to write this before I finished Cars 3: Born Racer, so sorry 4 being so slow… Ok, NOW review! Gogogo!!!!**


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